Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 1.20%

Investing.com – Australia stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, A-REITs and Industrials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.20%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Skycity Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX:SKC), which rose 6.52% or 0.12 points to trade at 1.88 at the close. Meanwhile, Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (ASX:TAH) added 5.94% or 0.05 points to end at 0.85 and Credit Corp Group Ltd (ASX:CCP) was up 5.75% or 0.99 points to 18.20 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL), which fell 6.72% or 0.09 points to trade at 1.25 at the close. Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX:RSG) declined 6.40% or 0.03 points to end at 0.40 and Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) was down 5.32% or 0.05 points to 0.89.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 799 to 386 and 345 ended unchanged.

Shares in Omni Bridgeway Ltd (ASX:OBL) fell to 5-year lows; losing 6.72% or 0.09 to 1.25.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 1.11% to 11.00.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.23% or 4.70 to $2,062.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.37% or 0.28 to hit $76.13 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.34% or 0.27 to trade at $80.82 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.34% to 0.65, while AUD/JPY fell 0.47% to 96.04.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 103.45.